Melody Pond: The Childhood that Never Was
by Lyanna Pond
Summary: What if the Doctor had found baby Melody before her escape to the city streets of New York and regeneration to Mels? What would her childhood have been (or not have been...) like? Set between A Good Man Goes to War and Let's Kill Hitler, here is my ideal fantasy of Melody's childhood and the events that occur when time is rewritten...
1. The Search

**New chapters will be added during my spare time- please leave reviews! **

The Doctor searched long and hard. He had traveled through galaxies unheard of, sometimes more than one per day. He knew that Amy and Rory were anxiously waiting at home on planet Earth and he couldn't fail them. Summer was nearly ending, and it would be getting colder, a further reminder to them of the emptiness in their hearts.

Finally, he stumbled upon a lead in a most peculiar way. The Doctor recalled a day long ago where he had visited Captain Jack for the last time shortly before his regeneration to his current body. It was a bar on a distant planet filled with travelers of all species, and the Doctor stopped in for a quick drink to ease his stress. Sitting a few stools down was a human soldier who looked oddly familiar. The Doctor cautiously approached and the soldier's eyes widened.

"I know you," the Doctor stated.

"I know you too, but then again, who doesn't?" responded the man, obviously a bit tipsy. "You're the last of the Time Lords."

"And you served under Captain Runaway at the Battle of Demon's Run working for the Silence," said the Doctor, taking a seat on the stool beside him. "What are you doing here, away from your companions and your headless monks?"

"They aren't my companions any longer," replied the soldier. "Just kept the uniform because it gains me some respect around here." He chuckled.

"What happened?" the Doctor inquired with his trusting manner.

"They killed my husband," said the man somberly. "Just took him away and chopped off his head. Wanted to make him one of those monks. He never volunteered. They just took him from me. I resigned after the battle."

"Tell me," the Doctor began, "do you know anything about where they might have taken Melody Pond?"

"I signed an oath to the Silence to remain, well, silent," the ex-soldier replied. He chugged the rest of his beer. "But to seven hells with them. They could be watching, though. What I can say is…" He lowered his voice and the Doctor leaned in. "…she's where you'd least expect them to take her: in plain sight, far too close that you'd even think to investigate."

The Doctor rose. "Thank you, Mr., uh…"

"Thin one. You can call me the thin one. My husband was the fat one. We were always just the thin/fat gay angelican marines. No need for names. Like you, Doctor."

"Well, thin one, you've been of great assistance. I'll just be off…" The Doctor sprinted to his TARDIS and set course for planet Earth. As he traveled through the time vortex, he thought of possible places that she might be. Obviously in a crowded city, where no one would think twice about a strange woman with an eyepatch holding a baby. Beijing, perhaps? No, they'd stand out there. It would have to be somewhere in Europe, Australia, or North America.

He landed first in Sydney, asking his connections if they'd seen anything of the sort, and to keep an eye out. He searched through every known secret tunnel and alleyway, and even interrogated average citizens. No one seemed to have seen them.

He travelled next to Rome and Athens, where there were so many ancient underground homes and temples that could be ideal hiding spots. He stumbled upon a clan of rather sketchy homeless Greeks who believed that Zeus would send his messenger to save them, but nothing else of interest.

The Doctor's next stop, New York City, would take more time. On the crowded, dirty streets of Manhattan, he didn't even bother asking citizens if they'd seen anything out of the ordinary. All you had to do was go to Times Square to see many sights out of the ordinary. Therefore, Times Square was his first place of interest. The Doctor enjoyed some cotton candy from a street vendor and almost had his sonic screwdriver stolen by a pickpocket, but no eyepatch woman.

Then, he had a brilliant idea. He hailed a cab to take him across the city to the "ghettos" where the poor still struggled to this day. He knew there were many alleys and abandoned homes where experimenting on a baby would not be found out.

The Doctor knew instantly when he had found the right place. "Yes, yes," said the old man who answered his knocks. "We keep the orphanage open for one very special child. Would you like to come in?"

"Yes, please," responded the Doctor.

The man led him up a flight of creaky wooden steps with graffiti on the walls and into a messy office. "Tea?" he offered.

"No thank you," said the Doctor, glancing around. "I would like to see your special child."

"Oh, no," replied the old man. "They wouldn't like that very much. Tea?"

The Doctor frowned. "No, no thank you. Who wouldn't like that very much?"

"Who wouldn't like what?" was the man's answer.

Suddenly, the Doctor heard the wailing of a child. He pulled out his sonic and bolted down the corridor toward the cries. He slowly pushed open an unlocked wooden door to witness a horrifying sight. There were wires hooked up to the child's head, attached to who knows what. "Oh, Melody. What have they done to you?"


	2. Doctor Runaway

**Thank you so much to everyone who has already followed this story! Please continue to leave reviews- you are my motivation to continue writing. **

The Doctor stepped cautiously toward the child, but heard a voice behind him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Doctor," hissed the woman. He whirled around.

"Ahh, lovely to see you again," he said with a grin, staring directly at her eyepatch.

"I think not," the woman replied sternly. "You should have accepted your defeat at Demon's Run."

"I've never been a huge fan of defeat," responded the Doctor. He moved close to the woman, leaning in so that his face was just inches from hers. "It's one on one now. No more soldiers, no more armies. Just you and me."

"Doctor, Doctor," the woman snapped back. "I would have expected that you would be less naïve after our last encounter. We are never alone."

The Doctor turned slowly to face two Silents, on one either side of Melody, whose wailing had ceased a bit. The hollow spots where eyes should be stared intently at him. He nonchalantly slipped a pen out of his pocket and left two marks on his right wrist. He turned back to eyepatch lady, who was smirking.

"Hand her over to me and I'll let you go unharmed," he threatened.

"Have you forgotten, Doctor?" she responded. "You're outnumbered."

The Doctor glanced casually at his wrist. Two marks. "Three on one is nothing. I've taken down a whole planet, and I'd sure as hell do it again if that's what it took to save this child."

Suddenly, the elderly orphanage owner approached from down the hall and tapped the eyepatch woman on her shoulder. "Excuse me, ma'am, but there's someone here to see the child. I told him that you wouldn't like that very much."

The Doctor seized his opportunity, knocking the lady down with one punch. The Silents growled at him as he quickly assessed the wires from a distance. They weren't attached internally at all- just stuck onto her skin. The Doctor pointed his sonic at them, but they wouldn't detach. He lunged toward Melody, both Silents reaching out for him. "Stop," commanded the woman's voice from behind him as she stood up, straightening her hair. The Silents obeyed. The Doctor turned once again to face the overwhelming eyepatch. "Sonic-proof, Doctor. Only the strongest force on this planet can detach those wires."

"What are you doing to her?" the Doctor sneered. "Tell me!"

"Programming her," the woman responded simply. "Sending images of the terrible things that you've done into her mind, all the species that you've harmed or annihilated. Physically, at such a young age, she may be unable to take you on, but mentally we can show her the truth so that when the timing is right, the deed will be done with malice."

"Release her!" the Doctor yelled.

"I'll make you a deal, Doctor. It'll save us both an unnecessary hassle," the eyepatch lady proposed. "Your life for hers. Right here, right now."

"What assurance do I have that Melody will be returned to Amy and Rory?" the Doctor asked.

"None," the woman responded honestly. "I can give you some assurance that she will be released though, as the project will no longer be necessary if you allow me to take your life in an easier way." She glanced at the old man. "Do you have your gun?"

"My gun?" he asked quizzically. "Oh, yes. The gun. They gave it to me in case of intruders." The old man pulled out a simple handgun. The eyepatch woman snatched it from his weak grip and aimed it at the Doctor's hearts.

"I just need to shoot you three times, don't I?" She grinned. "Three times and this will all be over." Her fingers moved onto the trigger. "Run."

The Doctor dodged each bullet fluidly, sprinting down the corridor and the flight of creaky wooden stairs. The woman did not follow, but called out, "They'll call you Doctor Runaway!" She cackled.

The Doctor kept running out the gates and down the dark, deserted street. He eventually reached something that resembled a main road in one of the nearby poor neighborhoods. A rundown car with a smashed headlight slowed down in front of him and the passenger, a man with sunglasses, dreads, and a leather vest, rolled down his window. "You need a lift?" He grinned with yellow teeth. The Doctor saw no other option.

"Yes, thank you," he replied, far too politely. He opened the back door, climbing into a box of cigarette smoke and filth. "I need to get back to my TARDIS."

"Your what?" asked dreads with a laugh. "Yo, Slapdog, this guy crazy."

The Doctor could not clearly see the driver. "Eh, man, we don't care if you a nutter, just give us your money and we'll take you where you need to go," said Slapdog.

"I don't have any money, fellas," interrupted the Doctor, "but I can offer you this one of a kind jacket, worth a lot, and this rather cool bowtie."

"That is a pretty cool bowtie," dreads agreed.

"Shut it," snapped Slapdog. "Alright, you got yourself a deal. Give my buddy the goods."

The Doctor reluctantly removed his jacket and bowtie. "Now, if you actually take me where I need to be, I will reward you with this." He pulled out his screwdriver.

"Yo, what is that?" shouted dreads excitedly. He reached for it, but the Doctor with one agile movement slipped it into his pants pocket.

"Something very valuable," the Doctor answered. "Now, my TARDIS is just a few blocks from here, I believe."

It took about fifteen minutes, much longer than the Doctor had hoped, for Slapdog to reach his blue box.

"This is where you live, man?" said dreads with a hoot of laughter. "No wonder you ain't got no money."

"Don't underestimate the power of the Police box," the Doctor replied defensively, opening the door beside him.

"Eh, I think you promised my friend here something valuable," Slapdog reminded him. He began to exit the car, as well, and faced the Doctor. He had dark spiky hair with a vest that matched dreads and patched faded jeans. The Doctor smiled.

"I did, but you see…" the Doctor started, backing up, "they don't call me Doctor Runaway for nothing." He sprinted into his TARDIS and slammed the door behind him. Slapdog was banging on the door from the outside and the Doctor could hear him beginning to pick the lock. He quickly dematerialized, hopefully to the outsiders' horror, into the time vortex.

The Doctor set course for London. He slipped on his second jacket and a different bowtie, feeling less defeated. He was the Time Lord Victorious, and he knew where to find the most powerful force on the planet to detach those wires.


	3. The Rescue

**Thanks for all your positive feedback so far! Glad you guys like the story. This chapter is a bit longer, but I didn't want to cut it off and leave you hanging at a horrible spot. Enjoy!**

The Doctor landed the TARDIS smoothly outside Amy and Rory's home. It was very early in the morning in London, but the pair heard the whirring of the Police box nonetheless and bolted outside in bathrobes and slippers. "Ponds!" greeted the Doctor with a flourish of his arms. "I've found your daughter!"

They both quickly approached him. "Where is she?" interrogated Amy. "Do you have her? Is she hurt?"

"New York," the Doctor responded, "which means I don't have her. And what was the third question?"

"Is she hurt, Doctor?" Rory repeated.

"No, but I need your help," the Doctor answered. "Get dressed."

Amy shoved past him and stepped into the TARDIS. "Rory was dressed like a Roman the first time you came to save her. It doesn't matter what we're wearing, Doctor."

"Well then, off we go!" exclaimed the Doctor as he ushered Rory aboard. "We'll need to go back in time a few hours. Well, technically it's already a few hours back in time because time zones, but I mean a few hours before the few hours of time difference."

"Doctor, what's going on?" Rory asked.

"So, I made an attempt to rescue her, but…" the Doctor began.

"You made an attempt?!" Amy interjected. "That means they know we're coming! How could you have failed?"

"Hush, they don't know we're coming because we're going back to before I was there," the Doctor continued. "And I was missing something- something that only you two can offer." He set course for a block away from the orphanage in the late evening hours of New York. Upon landing, he ushered them back out and the three of them hid behind a bush beside the dirt road which led up to the orphanage. "Now, in about a minute, a cab is going to drive by. I want you to wait until it drives back past us and then walk in the original direction it was headed. You're going to reach an open gate which leads up to an abandoned orphanage except it isn't actually abandoned. Use my sonic to get inside." He handed his screwdriver to Amy.

"You aren't coming with us, Doctor?" Amy asked.

The Doctor shushed her. As the cab drove by, they noticed who was inside. "Doctor, is that you?" said Rory.

"Yes, Rory," the Doctor replied, "and that's why I can't come with you because if there's two versions of me there at the same time it could create a paradox and a bunch of timey wimey things would happen and the Universe could collapse."

"That's not good," mumbled Rory.

"What exactly are we supposed to do, Doctor?" Amy prodded.

"Quietly go up the stairs. Observe everything that's going on from a distance and do not interfere until the right moment," the Doctor instructed.

"How will we know when it's the right moment?" Rory inquired.

"At some point an old man is going to walk by. There's a handgun attached to the back of his belt. Pull the gun out- he won't notice. Then listen carefully and you'll know when it's the right moment."

The cab drove slowly back down the street. The trio emerged from their hiding place. Amy and Rory began to walk toward the orphanage.

"One more thing!" the Doctor called out. "Make sure you tell the other version of me that he needs to run a few blocks thataway and hitch a ride from Slapdog to get back to the other TARDIS to go pick you two up so that this will all actually happen."

"Who's Slapdog?" Rory asked.

"Doesn't matter- now hurry along!" The Doctor waved them off and reentered his TARDIS.

"I hate it how he never tells us exactly what to do," Rory whined as they approached the old building. Amy sonicked open the door.

"Where's the fun in that?" she replied and pushed her way inside. They both fell silent. Hearing voices from the second floor, they made their way up the creaky steps as quietly as possible and ducked behind the railing on the top step. "That's her!" whispered Amy, pointing down the hall. "That's the eyepatch woman who took Melody." She started to stand up. Rory pulled her back down.

"The Doctor said not to interfere until the right moment!" he scolded.

"Have you forgotten, Doctor?" hissed the woman. "You're outnumbered."

Amy and Rory jumped as they heard footsteps. An elderly man walked past them slowly, taking no notice of their presence. The Doctor said something to the eyepatch woman while Amy spotted the gun and grabbed it. The man kept walking. He tapped the woman on the shoulder. "Excuse me, ma'am, but there's someone here to see the child. I told him that you wouldn't like that very much."

Amy and Rory watched as the Doctor punched the woman. They did not have a clear view of what was happening inside the room. "Is this it?" asked Rory. "Is this the moment?"

"No," Amy answered surely. "The Doctor said it would be a clear sign."

They watched as the woman stood up and commanded that something stop. "Sonic-proof, Doctor," she said. "Only the strongest force on this planet can detach those wires."

They heard the Doctor's response, but could not see him. "What are you doing to her? Tell me!"

"Melody!" Amy whispered. "They've got her hooked up to something." She started to stand up again, furious, but Rory held onto her.

"Programming her," the woman responded simply. "Sending images of the terrible things that you've done into her mind, all the species that you've harmed or annihilated. Physically, at such a young age, she may be unable to take you on, but mentally we can show her the truth so that when the timing is right, the deed will be done with malice."

"They're turning her into a weapon," Rory realized.

They listened as the Doctor attempted to strike a bargain with the eyepatch woman.

"I can give you some assurance that she will be released though, as the project will no longer be necessary if you allow me to take your life in an easier way," the woman said. She glanced at the old man. Amy and Rory ducked. "Do you have your gun?"

"There's the signal," said Amy. They both arose.

"My gun?" the old man asked quizzically. "Oh, yes. The gun. They gave it to me in case of intruders." He reached behind him, but it wasn't there. Amy sprinted down the hall followed by her husband and knocked the old man over the head with the gun. She aimed it at the eyepatch woman.

"I believe you have my daughter," Amy threatened. The woman was stunned.

"Ahh, Ponds!" exclaimed the Doctor. "What a lovely time to drop by. What on Earth are you wearing?"

"But…how?" said the woman. Amy prepared to shoot.

"It's three on three now," responded the Doctor. "And we have the advantage. Let her go."

Amy looked into the room. There were two Silents beside Melody, who had wires attached to her tiny forehead. She shot both of them, staring at her poor child so that she would feel no guilt. "Back to three against one," Amy asserted, "and we still have the advantage. Remove the wires."

"I can't," was the eyepatch woman's response.

"You can or I shoot," Amy threatened, moving the gun closer to her face.

"She's telling the truth, Amy," the Doctor confirmed. "She can't, but you can."

Amy looked at him. There were two Silents dying behind him. She didn't remember shooting them, but handed the gun to Rory, who kept it steadily aimed at the eyepatch woman. Amy stood beside the Doctor and looked down at her beautiful daughter. "How?" she asked him. "I don't want to hurt her."

"The strongest force on this planet, Amy, can detach those wires," the Doctor replied. "Lean down, Pond. Look into your daughter's eyes. Just take them off- don't think."

Amy slowly removed the first wire. It left no mark on Melody's forehead. The little girl just smiled up at her. She heard the eyepatch woman huff behind her.

"No more tricks," said the Doctor. Amy finished peeling off the wires and held her real child for the second time. She followed the Doctor into the hallway.

"What should we do with this one?" asked Rory.

"Let her go, Rory," advised the Doctor. "I'll deal with her on my own later."

Rory thought for a moment and then shot both of the eyepatch woman's feet. She cried out in pain. He slipped the gun into his own belt and followed his wife and the Doctor down the stairs and out the door.

"Now, how did you two know to be here?" asked the Doctor.

"You need to go get us," said Amy, cradling her baby. "The future version of you told us to tell the past version of you, which is you, to run a few blocks and hitch a ride from Slapdog."

"Who's Slapdog?" the Doctor inquired.

"I don't know," said Amy, "but you better go find him. We'll leave with the other you on your other TARDIS. I don't think I want to introduce Melody to Slapdog."

They waved to the Doctor, who began his jog, as they made their way through the bushes back to the TARDIS. The Doctor they had arrived with was waiting for them on board. He grinned at their arrival with the baby.

"Thank you!" shouted the Doctor as he strode towards them.

"No, thank you," said Rory. "How was Amy able to detach the wires, but not you or the eyepatch woman?"

"The strongest force on planet Earth and most planets, actually, is a mother's love," explained the Doctor. He smiled at Melody, who began to cry. Amy rocked her back and forth.

"By the way, Doctor," remembered Rory, "I shot the eyepatch woman's feet and Amy knocked out the old man and took down two Silents. The other you said that you'd deal with it later."

"That sounds like something that he would say," said the Doctor with a frown. "Let me get you both back home safely first." He set course for London once again and they were off, swirling into the time vortex as a happy, reunited family.


	4. Complications

**Thought I'd share my response to a reviewer's question about whether or not Melody will still become the Doctor's wife: both Mels and River Song will be discussed in the upcoming chapters. It's really difficult trying to keep continuity with the show, so I will first be addressing what would happen if Melody never regenerated as a child on the streets of New York. It's all mapped out, but I just need some time to get it typed up! Thanks for your patience; please keep reading and reviewing! **

The Doctor sighed as he stood once again, alone, outside the New York orphanage. He wasn't looking forward to dealing with the eyepatch woman. He approached and entered, hearing the woman's pained cries echoing from the second floor.

"You can't let them get away from us! We've worked too hard for this!" she was hissing at someone. The Doctor ran upstairs and past the old man, who was conscious, but didn't acknowledge his presence. The eyepatch woman glared up at him. Blood surrounded her feet on the wood floor. She was flanked by four Silents. The Doctor removed his pen from his pocket and added four marks to his wrist. "Still here, I see," said the woman.

"Yes," replied the Doctor, "but the child and her family are safe. I'd like you to come with me."

"And why exactly would I do that?" sneered the woman.

"Because you need to accept defeat," the Doctor stated. "You can't walk, and neither your friends nor that feeble old man seem willing to pick you up. You'll bleed to death eventually, and it will be slow and painful. I'm willing to show you mercy."

"Mercy, Doctor." The woman spat. "What do you know of mercy? Was it mercy when you watched your race perish in a blast of fire that you ignited? Was that mercy, Doctor? You've interfered in too much, and your death would be doing the Universe a favor."

"Ah, but it's not my death we're talking about- it's yours," the Doctor responded. "Come with me and I'll let you live." He extended his hand. "No more tricks."

The eyepatch woman grinned. "You seem to have forgotten about my companions again."

"The Silents have lived on Earth for years without causing any sort of issue," argued the Doctor. "Without their leader, things will go back to the way they were. Come." The Doctor scooped her up and she didn't struggle. The Silents watched with hollow eyesockets. He called to the old man, who followed them outside.

He had parked his TARDIS at the edge of the property beside the gate. He carried her inside and beckoned for the old man to follow. The eyepatch woman remained silent while he dropped the old man off at a nursing home in Lower Manhattan, apologizing to the owner for calling so late, but that he needed to leave town unexpectedly and his grandfather's Alzheimers prevented him from living on his own. The owner understood and kindly accepted the man as a resident.

Striding back into his TARDIS and closing the door behind him, the Doctor gazed intently at the eyepatch woman with a smirk. They were soon floating idly in the Time Vortex.

"Now that we're truly alone," the Doctor began, "what do you really want with me?"

The woman just grinned, her eyepatch resembling an evil wink. The Doctor set his course and landed the TARDIS just outside the most secure prison in the Universe. He carried her inside, where the staff agreed to treat her feet and assign her to a cell. The Doctor could recall only one woman who had ever escaped those locks. "Is River Song here?" he asked an attendant.

"Who?" the attendant asked.

"River Song. Prisoner, curly hair, gets out and about here and there…"

The attendant interrupted him. "No one can escape these cells, sir. We'll take it from here with this one." The eyepatch woman was placed onto a stretcher. She cast one last look at the Doctor.

"Silence will fall, Doctor," she hissed. "Silence will fall."

The Doctor exited through the main entrance and boarded his TARDIS, puzzled, but content to be relieved of the night's endeavors. He set course for London, hoping to crash at Amy and Rory's place for a bit and play with the baby.

As soon as he had landed and opened the door, they were already waiting for him on the front lawn, still wearing their bathrobes. "Still haven't changed, I see?" he asked. Amy and Rory both blushed, and the Doctor stared at them quizzically.

"You don't even know how glad we are to see you," said Amy.

"Yeah, we were hoping you could help us figure out what happened," Rory continued.

"What do you mean?" the Doctor replied.

"Well, I was somewhere else, I can't remember where, and now I'm at Amy's house, and Amy doesn't remember me showing up either…" said Rory. "And I know what this looks like, but I swear we weren't drinking and nothing happened."

"What is going on here?" the Doctor asked. "Where is Melody?"

"Who's Melody?" Amy responded.

The Doctor's face fell. He shoved past them and into the house. He frantically searched every room, but there was no sign of the child. He put his head in his hands. Amy and Rory approached behind him. "Doctor, what's going on?" Amy demanded to know.

"I don't know!" the Doctor shouted. "The Silence must have taken her, but how? How could they have fooled me again?"

"Taken who, Doctor?" asked Amy. "You're scaring me."

The Doctor pushed past them again and into the living room. He carefully examined the photos Amy had put out. There were several of her parents, one of him admiring his TARDIS, and one of Amy and Rory at their high school graduation…but no wedding photo.

"Where is your wedding photo?" the Doctor inquired.

"My what?" asked Amy.

"Wedding photo!" yelled the Doctor. "Every couple puts out their wedding photo; it's just a thing that you humans do!"

"Doctor," Amy began, "It must have been a bad day for you or something but I don't think there's need to remind you that I'm not married…"

The Doctor turned around and saw that the pair was staring at him, genuinely dumbfounded. After a few moments he opened his mouth. "Now this is going to be a tricky one…"


	5. The Mels that Never Was

**Thanks for your continued support! **** Feel free to PM me links to some of your stories, as well, so I can return the favor. There is a brief reference to the Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood in this chapter, but no major spoilers if you haven't seen it! **

"Ok," the Doctor began, "this is going to sound a little odd to you, so you might want to sit down for this." Amy and Rory reluctantly sat on the couch. "So, first I need to know what the date is." He wanted to make sure he had returned in the proper time.

"August 28, 2011," replied Amy with a sigh.

"Good…and bad," the Doctor added, realizing that this was indeed the right time. "Now, when was the last time you saw me?"

"Beginning of the summer," Amy answered. "You just dropped us off here and said you needed to go do something on your own."

"What happened this summer while I was away?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, we certainly could have used you," Rory snapped back, almost angrily. "We tried calling you on Miracle Day, but you never pick up your phone. Nobody on Earth was dying- there was chaos everywhere. A friend of yours, Captain Jack, stopped in, asking if we knew where you were."

The Doctor regretted not being here to help Jack, but saving Melody had been his only priority. He couldn't let it go to waste now. "If you must know, I was off saving your daughter, who apparently now never existed in the first place."

"What are you on about?" Amy asked with a roll of her eyes.

"Like I said," the Doctor continued, "this might be difficult for you to believe, but you two are married and you had a kid who was kidnapped by a religious order called the Silence because she was half Time Lord and they wanted to use her as a weapon to kill me. Last night you helped me save her, and since then something's happened to time to make it as if she never existed in the first place."

The two just stared at him, and then Amy began to laugh. "Me? Married to Rory?" Rory attempted a chuckle that came out more like a cough. "Doctor, Rory's just a friend. He's always just been our friend that we bring along on adventures here and there."

The Doctor looked down at Amy's hand. "Then what's that on your finger?" he asked.

Amy looked down at her left hand. There was a gold band shimmering on her ring finger. "Just…a ring," she answered, puzzled but trying to appear calm. "It's just a ring, Doctor."

"Now look at Rory's hand," the Doctor insisted. They looked down to see that Rory was wearing a matching ring.

"This is stupid, Doctor," Amy snapped. "There's absolutely no way I could be married to Rory."

"Oh, and why's that?" Rory replied.

Amy was caught off-guard. "Well, you know, it's just that you're…"

"I'm what?" Rory interjected, glaring at her.

"Gay," Amy finished.

"What?" exclaimed Rory. "I'm not gay!"

"Rory, in all this time that I've known you, when have you ever shown the slightest interest in a girl?" Amy retorted. Rory blushed.

"Hush," commanded the Doctor. "Time can be rewritten, but it always leaves slight traces of what was originally meant to happen, like your wedding bands. So all I have to do is go back and unwrite the rewrite and figure out what caused it in the first place."

"This is insane," Rory mumbled.

"Amy, who did you go to prom with?" asked the Doctor.

"Just some guy Jeff that lived down the street from me when I was a kid," answered Amy.

"Wrong," answered the Doctor, remembering Jeff's Internet history from the day he met Rory. "Now you're going with Rory. I'll be right back. Get two new picture frames while I'm gone so you can put prom and wedding next to each other- it'll be a cute human thing!" He rushed out the door and back into his blue box. He landed in front of Amy's old house on what would have been around March of their senior year of high school. Making sure that she didn't notice him so that he wouldn't meddle with time more than he already had, the Doctor cautiously followed Amy as she walked to school. He spotted Rory immediately, sitting alone at the edge of the parking lot watching Amy as she walked into the building, like he probably did every morning. The Doctor waited until Amy was definitely inside before he approached.

He casually strolled up to Rory, who jumped when he saw him. "You're…you're…" Rory started. "I know you."

"I know," said the Doctor. "Amy has drawings of me in her room, imaginary friend, blah blah blah." Rory balked. "Now, Rory, I'm here to let you know that I'm real, but you can't tell Amy. I need you to do something for me that will also benefit you."

Rory gulped. "Ok."

"I want you to ask Amy to prom," the Doctor ordered. "Flowers and chocolate, something cute. She likes you, but she thinks you're gay so you need to tell her that you're not and then kiss her so you guys can fall in love and do lovey things that humans do. Sound good?"\

Rory stared at him. "Um…ok. Are you sure she likes me?"

"101% sure," the Doctor responded, "now go do that. Shoo." The Doctor pushed him in the direction of the building and ran back to his TARDIS. He dematerialized into the future and opened the door on the front lawn of Amy and Rory's new house. He entered without knocking.

Rory was holding little Melody and Amy was tickling her as if nothing had gone wrong. They looked up. "Is everything alright, Doctor?" Amy asked.

"Yes," replied the Doctor. "Everything's fine."

Rory smiled. "I don't know what we would do without you."

"You flatter me," the Doctor responded. "You two deserve a bit of sleep. Let me go get my cradle and you can go shopping in the morning for all those cute little baby things."

As the Doctor searched through his TARDIS, he tried to fit together the pieces. Something, or someone, that had made Amy and Rory fall in love was now missing. But how was that possible? What could saving Melody have done to change that?

He finally found the little wood cradle and carried it into the house, trying to forget about his thoughts.


	6. A Bad Man

**I'm spacing out my postings now so you guys have the chance to catch up and aren't bombarded with daily emails if you follow me. This chapter is super short, but I wanted to separate it from the last one. The final story is going to be 14 chapters and an epilogue, which will all be up by the end of the summer (even if I have to stay up all night writing)! Thanks for reading.**

Amy and Rory carefully placed their daughter into the wooden cradle which the Doctor had slept in a thousand years ago. "Look at her, Doctor," Rory gushed. "Isn't she beautiful?"

The Doctor leaned over and looked at her. Melody started to cry. The Doctor sighed.

"What is it, Doctor?" asked Amy. "What does she need?"

"I doubt he really speaks baby, Amy," said Rory sarcastically.

"No, I do, actually," the Doctor responded, "and she doesn't like my face."

"Well, why on Earth not? You don't have a scary face," Amy assured him, stroking Melody's patch of hair to calm her down.

"That's because the Silence showed her images of me not on Earth," explained the Doctor. "Images of me fighting the Daleks and such and associating me with bad situations that would frighten little children. Even at such a young age, she's beginning to believe that I'm a bad man."

"Well, we'll knock some sense into her as soon as she can understand us," said Amy. "Don't you worry."

The Doctor excused himself and headed back to his TARDIS. He stood in the control room and pictured her in human form, like the day at the end of the Universe in the body of that crazy haired woman. He needed her to respond and help him now more than ever.

"Just me and you again, I guess, old girl," he said aloud. "The Ponds need to be on their own now. After all the things that have happened to them, we shouldn't put any more people in danger." The Doctor sighed again and thought about River Song. "I wish we could go pick up River. You always liked her, didn't you? Ah, what the hell, she never existed now."

He looked down at his feet and continued. "She's the only woman I've loved since…well, since Rose I suppose, and now she's gone forever too, just out of reach. I suppose I could wait another few hundred years- she's bound to have regenerated by then when her body gets too old and weak. Amy and Rory won't be around to scold me. Hell, she's worth it. The only other sort-of Time Lord in existence." He looked back up at the console. "Maybe I am a bad man. In the back of my mind ever since I rescued her has been this selfish thought of just leaving her there and letting her die so that someday she'd be my River…"

"Is that really what you think, Doctor?" interrupted a voice. The Doctor whirled around to see Rory standing just inside the door.

"Rory, I'm sorry…" he began to say.

"Save it," snapped Rory. "I'm here to get some things from our room and then I think you should be off." He quickly walked deeper into the TARDIS and the Doctor put his head in his hands.

He looked up a few minutes later to see Rory's final glance before closing the door behind him. The Doctor said nothing and his thoughts were too jumbled. He pulled a lever and he was off, leaving Earth and the events of the summer behind him. He didn't know who he was or where he was going, but he knew he'd find his way.


	7. Resurrections and Reunions

3 years later…

The Doctor, upon returning to the TARDIS after a nice relaxing day along the coast of Rio, heard his telephone ring and sighed. "You people…always needing me to save the world," he huffed to himself. "Can't a Time Lord ever get a day off?"

He reluctantly picked up the receiver. "This is the Doctor speaking."

"Hello Doctor," said a voice that he knew so well.

"Amelia Pond," he replied. "How are things?"

"Great, actually, for the most part," Amy replied, "but we need you to drop in soon if you get the chance."

"Ahh…well, see, I'm a bit busy…" the Doctor stuttered.

"Rory told me what you said," Amy interrupted, "and don't think I'm not still upset about it, but we're willing to forgive and forget if you get your blue box down here right now and help us."

"Excellent!" the Doctor exclaimed, quickly dematerializing and landing on the Ponds' front lawn, a place he had missed greatly.

Amy was waiting for him outside and hung up her mobile when he stepped out of his TARDIS to greet her. "Glad to see you've been enjoying yourself," she stated.

"What?" asked the Doctor. Her eyes scanned his body, taking in the sandals, banana yellow swim trunks, and tourist T-shirt. "Oh, yes, sorry- would you prefer that I change my clothes?"

"No, it's fine," answered Amy. "Come in." She turned around and went inside, leaving the door open as his cue to follow.

Upon entering, he spotted Rory sitting on the couch, looking at his palms. Amy closed the door and went to sit beside him. "Where is your daughter?" inquired the Doctor, worried.

"You mean the one you want to murder and marry?" snapped Rory without looking up.

"Rory!" Amy scolded. He looked at her and then back at his hands. "She's upstairs taking a nap."

"Good, now, on the phone it sounded like this was urgent…" the Doctor began.

"Yes," Amy confirmed, "take a look at this." She handed him a copy of the newspaper.

"Headline- 'Child Saved by 3-year-old Playmate'," he read aloud. Amy nodded, indicating that this was the correct article, and he kept reading. "Yesterday afternoon, a 5-year-old boy at a local day care center fell from the top of the playground and hit his head on the pavement. The day care owner, Susan, rushed to help, and said that the boy was not breathing. A teenage assistant called for an ambulance while Susan performed CPR. 'There was blood everywhere,' said Susan, 'and I knew it was too late.' While Susan held the boy, praying that professional help would arrive soon, a playmate, 3-year-old Melody Williams approached and held his hand. 'When Melody touched him, there was this bright orange light between them and all of a sudden he started breathing again- just like that! It was a miracle,' reported Susan. The ambulance arrived two minutes later to find that there was no gash on the boy's head or skeletal damage, despite the obvious presence of blood on the pavement. 'The kid was very lucky,' says EMT Michael. 'A fall like that could've ended badly.' Susan is currently being treated for post-traumatic stress and her day care is temporarily closed while the city implements new safety measures."

The Doctor looked up. Amy and Rory met his gaze.

"And it's not just that," said Amy. "Now that she's figured out what she can do, she resurrected the neighbor's deceased cat this morning. I don't know how to handle this, Doctor."

"She's throwing her regeneration energy around," the Doctor explained. "If she continues doing this, you're going to have bigger problems than being noticed by the media. The more regeneration energy you use on others, the less you have yourself."

"So if she uses it all up, then she won't be part Time Lord anymore," said Rory. "She can just live a normal life as a normal human."

"Well, we're not going to go around searching for dead cats so she can drain her special power, Rory," Amy snapped. "Plus, our daughter has the chance at another life beyond ours, something that we could never have. Parents are supposed to want more for their children." She sighed. "Is there anything you can do, Doctor? Is there a special outer space alien day care she can go to and learn to control this?"

"Unfortunately not," the Doctor replied, "considering that I am the only other living being with her 'special power'."

Rory looked at Amy. "You're not seriously considering letting him be around Melody?" he asked.

"Rory, I am so sorry for what I said," the Doctor assured him. "I know an apology will never take that moment back, but I am willing to do anything and everything I am to help you and your little girl."

"Let's go get her then, shall we?" said Amy, jumping at the opportunity to reunite with the Doctor and heading upstairs. There was a few moments of awkward silence and tension between the Doctor and Rory until she returned holding toddler Melody, her beautiful red hair blending with her mother's. "Melody," Amy began sweetly, "this is the Doctor."

Melody lifted her sleepy head and looked at the Doctor. Their eyes interlocked briefly and then she quickly buried her head in her mother's shoulder. "Still doesn't like me," the Doctor muttered under his breath.

"Now, Melody, the Doctor is a nice man," Amy insisted. "Go sit with Daddy- I'll be right back." She kissed Melody's forehead and placed her on Rory's lap. Amy returned a couple minutes later with a box. She opened it and the Doctor saw all her drawings of him from when she was a kid. She pulled one out and held it up. "See? He's smiling. And look at his bowtie- it's so cool!" said Amy, pointing at the picture.

Melody looked at the Doctor. "Why isn't he wearing a bowtie now?" she asked. The Doctor's hearts melted when he heard her young voice and he knelt down beside Amy.

"Well, Melody, I could put one on later if you'd like," said the Doctor. "I'll even let you pick it out!"

Melody smiled when he did, and Amy showed her another drawing. "This is me with the Doctor. I was only a little older than you when he first came to visit me." Rory rolled his eyes.

"And lastly," Amy continued, pulling out another drawing, "this is his special blue box called the TARDIS."

Melody grabbed the picture from her hands. "What does it do, Mum?" she asked.

"Why don't you ask him?" Amy whispered. Melody looked at the Doctor.

"What does your TARDIS do?" she asked innocently.

"Well, Melody," said the Doctor, "that blue box is a time machine that can travel backwards and forwards and can even go to other worlds and planets and stars beyond our Universe and your wildest imagination."

Melody's face lit up. "Can I see it?"

The Doctor looked at Rory. "Sure," Rory grumbled, standing up with Melody. The Doctor and the Ponds headed outside.

The Doctor pushed open the door to the TARDIS and Rory placed Melody down so she could walk in on her own. She looked around in awe. "Woah," she exclaimed. "It's so big!"

"Doesn't help that you're so little," teased the Doctor. Melody giggled.

She bolted toward the console. "Can we really go anywhere?"

"If Mum and Dad are alright with it," the Doctor responded, looking in their direction.

"Absolutely not," Rory answered. "It's too dangerous. Whenever you say something is going to be fun and relaxing, it never is!"

Melody ignored her father and pressed a button on the console. "No- don't touch that!" the Doctor yelled, leaning toward her.

Suddenly, the central pole lit up and Melody became transfixed by it for a moment. Then, she began to race back and forth around the center, pulling and pushing levers and buttons that she had to jump to reach. The TARDIS jerked and its course was set.

The Doctor reached for another lever. "Steady, girl," he said aloud, addressing both Melody and the TARDIS. They all felt a jolt as it landed somewhere, a new adventure awaiting them. Rory ran to scoop up Melody while Amy pushed the door open.

"Doctor," said Amy, "how come my 3-year-old knows how to fly the TARDIS?"

"She doesn't," replied the Doctor. "She just pressed some buttons like any little girl would."

"Then why are we suddenly safely landed on Melody's dream planet?" Amy retorted. The Doctor quickly rushed outside, followed by Rory and Melody. They were surrounded on all sides for miles and miles by carnival rides and lollipop stands. Little kids of all species were running about, laughing. Something that resembled a unicorn rode by while Melody gasped and pointed. They looked up to see a pink sky filled with perfectly-shaped, fluffy white clouds.

"This is just where I wanted it to go!" Melody exclaimed.


	8. Cybermen

**It's been a busy week, and thanks so much for your patience and positive reviews! More chapters to come soon.**

Amy returned to the console room after putting Melody to sleep in the bedroom that the TARDIS had created for her. The Doctor smiled.

"What are you smirking at?" asked Amy.

"I seem to recall Mr. Pond here saying that it was impossible to have a fun day without danger," the Doctor replied, "but if I do say so myself, I believe that was a super duper fun day!"

Rory groaned, holding an ice pack to the side of his swollen head. "I got trampled by a unicorn!"

"Well…yes," the Doctor retorted, "but other than that…"

"Doctor, you never explained why she can fly the TARDIS," Amy interrupted.

"I'm not quite sure exactly," the Doctor replied. "The TARDIS certainly likes her, though. It's almost as if it's a part of her, since she was…yeah…here." The Doctor shuddered at an image that came to mind, which he quickly pushed aside.

"Enough TARDIS talk," moaned Rory. "We're going home in the morning." He rose and winced. "Is our room still here, Doctor?"

"I certainly haven't touched it," answered the Doctor, "so probably, yes."

Amy rolled her eyes and followed her husband to bed.

The following morning, the Doctor whirled around when he heard a small cough. Melody was gazing up at him, holding the stuffed Sontaran she had won at the carnival yesterday.

"Hello," said the Doctor, leaning down. "Where's Mum and Dad?"

"They're sleeping," Melody responded. "Where are we going today?"

"Well, your dad wants to…" the Doctor began, but was cut off.

"Can I have a muffin?" Melody asked.

The Doctor laughed at the distracted innocent mind of a child. "Of course you can have a muffin. Now let's see…" The Doctor fiddled around, trying to figure out how to make a muffin and work the oven on the console. Eventually, he gave up. "I'll tell you what, how about we go get a nice breakfast out?"

Melody giggled. "Ok! Can I fly?"

"How about we do it together?" the Doctor suggested to avoid another incident. "There's a great little café on the moon." He thought of River Song and her time at Luna University, then quickly erased this image, as well. His hearts felt a pang of sadness.

"Ready?" said Melody, holding onto one of the levers.

"Ready," answered the Doctor, who pushed the lever he was holding. They scrambled back and forth, inputting coordinates and pushing buttons. Rory and Amy entered the control room sleepily in their nightwear.

"We better be going back to Earth," Rory grumbled.

"Just making a quick stop on the moon for breakfast!" the Doctor replied. Rory sighed. The TARDIS landed with a jolt. "That's odd."

"What's odd, Doctor?" asked Amy skeptically.

"Usually moon landings are pretty smooth," the Doctor answered. He walked over to the door and pushed it open. "Well, then, Ponds, your daughter's done it again." He growled at the thought of the TARDIS liking Melody better than him.

"Oh, no," said Rory, picking up Melody. They all made their way outside.

"The moon is awesome, daddy!" Melody exclaimed.

"Doctor, where are we?" Amy inquired.

"Well, we're at an amusement park designed to look like the moon," the Doctor confirmed. "I was here a couple hundred years ago, and by the looks of things, it hasn't been active since then."

"We're going back to the TARDIS," scolded Rory, "right now."

"Or…" Amy suggested, "we could explore for a bit."

"Yes, mommy!" Melody agreed.

"This looks and feels dangerous," Rory stated, holding his child tighter. His opinion was overruled when the Doctor and Amy began to walk toward the main office.

Upon entering, the Doctor heard a voice and took out his sonic screwdriver. "Hello?"

"Is that guests, I hear?" the voice responded. "Come in, come in! I'm over here!"

The Doctor and his companions followed the voice around the corner. A man was sitting on one side of a chess board, playing with what appeared to be a Cyberman. They all jumped back.

"It's alright," the man assured them quickly. "It's not alive. Come on out, Porridge!"

A small man crawled out of the suit. "We have visitors?" he asked, shocked. "My, it's been so long!"

"What happened to this place?" asked the Doctor.

"Closed down ages ago," the man who wasn't called Porridge replied, "but if your little girl wants to go on a ride or two, I'll see if I can get them running." Melody beamed.

"Is it safe?" Rory asked.

"Safe as it'll ever be!" answered the man. "I'll prove it. Let's go inspect them, shall we?"

"I want a muffin," said Melody.

Porridge chuckled. "I'll see what we've got."

Rory placed Melody down. "Mum and I are going to look at the rides. You stay here with the Doctor, ok?"

"Ok, Daddy," Melody responded.

Porridge returned with two blueberry muffins as Amy and Rory followed the man outside. He offered one to the Doctor. "No, thank you," he replied.

"Suit yourself," said Porridge, taking a bite. "What brings you here?"

Suddenly, they heard a loud crash and the scrape of metal from somewhere deeper in the building. The Doctor perked up, and realized that perhaps it was not Melody who had brought them here, but the TARDIS acting on another plea for help. "Stay here and don't move," he whispered to them, and he was off.

"He's overreacting," Porridge told Melody. "We hear noises like that all the time. It's just the old rides readjusting themselves. Would you like something to drink?"

"Milk," Melody demanded.

Porridge chuckled again and rose to fetch the milk.

It all happened so fast. The glass shattered and the Doctor's cries of "Cybermen!" were lost to the walls. The Cyberman from the chess board was holding Melody, a silver chip fastened to her head. "She is not compatible," it declared, ripping the chip from her forehead and dropping her to the ground. The Cyberman turned his attention to Porridge.

The Doctor frantically reentered the room. The silver chip had ripped out a small layer of her brain. She appeared unconscious. The Doctor choked back tears. "If you can hear me," he yelled, "I need you to be strong. You know how you saved that boy and the cat? I need you to do that to yourself, you hear me? Picture it. You can do it."

Melody's body began to glow with an orange light. The Doctor stepped back, and the Cyberman turned his attention away from Porridge. The Melody who sat up a minute later was not Amy and Rory's beautiful redhead, but a girl with dark skin and coarse black hair. She quickly passed out again, exhausted. "She is the one they are looking for," said the Cyberman.

"The ones who are looking for?" the Doctor demanded to know, aiming his sonic screwdriver at the Cyberman.

"The ones we serve," it replied, heading toward Melody.

The Doctor stood in front of her. "Well, they can't have her!" he shouted. The Cyberman knocked him out of the way, his head slamming into the stone wall. He was out cold.

Porridge watched as the Cyberman carefully lifted the new little girl from the floor and his metal companions from within the building joined him. "No!" he started, as the metal men beamed up through the roof and into the darkness of deep space.


	9. Madame Kovarian

**Loving how much you guys are loving this story! I'm updating as quickly as possible, I promise. Here is the first of two chapters (double the excitement!) that I'm adding today. Enjoy!**

The Doctor dropped Amy and Rory off on their lawn once again with yet another promise to return their daughter safely to them. Amy was tearful and Rory refused to speak to him.

Closing the door behind them, the Doctor let out a scream that turned into a sob. He couldn't believe that he had let his friends down again. Rory was right- he was a dangerous man with a dangerous box. As soon as he returned Melody to them safely, he would leave them be. He vowed to not even pop in for Christmas.

"Cybermen," he said aloud, thinking. There were millions upon millions of cyber-ships in the Universe. She could be on any one of them…or none of them. "The ones we serve. Who could possibly convince Cybermen to join their service?" He stared at the console as if the TARDIS would respond to him.

Not knowing where to begin, he decided to pay a visit to the place where he thought it had all ended.

Landing smoothly outside the prison so as not to set off any security alarms, the Doctor entered the massive facility and asked to see Madame Kovarian. The guards scanned him for weapons, temporarily confiscated his sonic screwdriver to his dismay, and at last led him up many flights to the cell where the eyepatch woman was kept. They rattled the bars to wake her up and stood at the end of the hallway to give them some privacy.

"Ahh, Doctor." She grinned, her eyepatch as menacing as ever. "Long time, no see."

"I have a couple questions," the Doctor began.

"What makes you think I'll answer them?" she sneered.

"Because if you don't, I'll tell those guards what that eyepatch of yours does and they'll remove it before you have the chance to say 'silence will fall'," the Doctor threatened. "Now, if I were you, I'd think twice about that. Losing all your memories of your dear friends would leave you wondering why you're rotting here in this cell, which could further trigger insanity…"

"How do you know about the patch?" the woman interrupted.

"I've been doing my research," the Doctor replied.

"I'm surprised you haven't dropped by and asked them to remove it already, then."

"I have better things to do with my time. I also thought that your connection might come in handy someday, and today is that day." The Doctor leaned in closer. "How long have the Silence been allied with the Cybermen?"

"News to me," the inmate hissed.

"You can't possibly fool me this time," the Doctor snapped. "I know you must have been keeping tabs on them even if they haven't been delivering any messages to you."

Madame Kovarian growled. "The Cybermen are long-time friends of the order."

"And where have they taken Melody Pond?" the Doctor demanded to know.

The eyepatch lady looked genuinely shocked and then cackled. The guards briefly turned to look at them, but realized that nothing was out of order and turned away.

"They've recaptured our little beauty, have they now?" she said. "My companions have done well while I've been away."

"Connect with them," ordered the Doctor. "Tell me where they've taken her."

"Oh Doctor," the woman began with a laugh. "You really think those inferior beings would take her somewhere that I haven't ordered them to?"

"If they haven't been keeping you informed, I doubt they're still following your orders," the Doctor retorted. "A powerless human woman in an alien prison where they say escape is impossible. Let me tell you firsthand…" He lowered his voice. "…that it is. So why haven't they come for you?"

She scowled. "They've been acting on orders I gave them years ago. I've given them no new ones but to try to finish the task that was begun."

The Doctor understood. "What were your plans for her?" The woman remained silent. "I know you were keeping her on Earth. What did you need there? When did you need her there? Simple questions, simple answers. I think you've got a lot riding on this, Madame."

She looked into his eyes. "Florida, 1969. Are you satisfied, Doctor?"

The Doctor smirked. "Very," he said, and allowed himself to be escorted out by the guards.


	10. The Fixed Turning Point

Landing back on Earth, he knew just where to go judging by the "when". 1969: The year of the moon landings- Kennedy Space Center. He showed his psychic paper, which apparently admitted him as a rocket scientist. He thought about how this would be the perfect job for him if he was human.

Figuring that she would be kept somewhere out of sight of the main projects, he headed down to the basement and followed a man's voice to the end of a dark and murky corridor. He knocked on the doorframe and the man jumped. He was the stereotypical mad scientist with gray unwashed hair, square glasses, and a white lab coat. "I…uhm…wasn't aware that there was an inspection today," he stuttered.

"Surprise," said the Doctor. "Just checking up to make sure everything's running on schedule, with the mission so close and such of the like."

"Yes, yes of course," responded the frazzled man. He took off his gloves. "Well, this here is one of our suits. It's designed for maximum oxygen capacity and to maintain very low temperatures."

"Good," said the Doctor. "Could I…see the others?" He was determined to move deeper into the facility.

The scientist appeared nervous. "This way."

The Doctor followed him down another flight of stairs and around a couple bends into a room that held three suits in glass cases. "Excellent," he whispered, instantly realizing what was wrong. "I was told that there were only three men on this mission."

"Yes, that is correct," the scientist replied, his hands shaking.

"Then, sir, why are you working on a fourth suit?" The Doctor turned to face him.

"Just a backup," the scientist answered. "If we're done here, I need to get back to work- very busy."

The Doctor followed him back out into the corridor and heard an all too familiar sound. He looked to his left and marked his wrist with his pen. The Doctor turned to face the scientist, who was now facing in the direction of the Silent. The Doctor casually glanced at his wrist, as he had been periodically since the moment he arrived in the basement. One mark. "You stare at it, but it doesn't frighten you," the Doctor pointed out. "It's almost as if you've seen them before."

The scientist looked back at the Doctor. "Seen who before?"

The Doctor kicked the man in the shins and pulled out his sonic, which he was glad to have back in his own hands. He raced down the corridor where the Silent had been and could hear the cries of a little girl in the distance. He followed them down two flights of stairs into a maze of underground tunnels. Then he saw her- in an open cavern straight ahead strapped to a stone chair surrounded by Silents. He made several marks and casually entered the room. The new Melody stared at him with dark eyes. "Doctor- help!"

"Hand her over," the Doctor ordered. He focused his eyes on the hollow ones of what appeared to be the Silent in charge, who was standing over the tearful little girl with a test tube.

"Leave," warned a voice from behind him. "They'll kill you, you know."

The Doctor turned to face the scientist, who was aiming a pistol at him with shaking hands. "Looks like you'd kill me too," the Doctor observed aloud.

"I didn't want to," the scientist said with a nervous twitch and appeared to choke back a sob. "She told me to. She told me I had to if the man with the bowtie came."

"Who told you?" the Doctor asked carefully, taking a couple steps toward him.

"The woman- the one with the eyepatch!" the scientist yelled. "She told me that they're always watching and she was right. Look at them- they're watching us now. And…they won't kill me if I kill you."

"Before you kill me, I think I'm entitled to one last question," the Doctor suggested. The scientist gulped and nodded. "What is the fourth spacesuit for?"

"The girl," the scientist answered, looking toward Melody, who was tugging at her restraints. "They want to use her as a weapon. They gave me access to technology beyond my wildest dreams to build this thing. Indestructible, they said. I just didn't realize when I took the job…"

"…that there was a price," the Doctor finished. He took two steps forward and whispered, "You can still get out of this. Lower your gun. Help me save her."

The scientist pondered the thought for a moment. He prepared his gun to shoot. The Doctor closed his eyes and heard the release of the bullet. He felt nothing and opened his eyes. Melody's body slumped to one side of the chair. All the hollow eyes of the Silents were on the Doctor and the scientist. The Doctor grabbed the scientist's arm and they bolted.

"What did you do that for?!" the Doctor screamed.

"She's out of her misery," the scientist replied with tears. "Their restraints are beyond our comprehension. It would have been impossible to free her."

"Get out of here," the Doctor demanded. "Get out of here now or else you'll never be free. I'm going back for her."

They stopped running. "It's all over now," the scientist said. "I don't expect to make it out of this- they'll kill me for what I did. You need to run. You have a chance."

"No!" the Doctor yelled. "You just made things worse for both of us. They're not going to kill you because they still need you."

"For what?" the scientist groaned.

"To finish the suit," the Doctor explained. "It's hard to comprehend, but the girl is still alive. I need you to tell me right now what the suit does."

The scientist looked bewildered. "The woman said it was a gift for the Doctor. I don't know who this Doctor is and why he'd need such a powerful weapon, but I was tempted by the technology and took the offer."

The Doctor fell silent for a moment. "It's not for me, it's to use against me," he said aloud.

"What?" asked the puzzled scientist.

The Doctor ignored him and turned to go back for Melody when suddenly the tunnel collapsed in front of him, blocking his path back into the chamber. "No!" he screamed.

"There's another way in," remembered the scientist. "Hurry- this way!"

The Doctor followed the scientist back up the stairs. Just as they were heading back through his main laboratory where the new suit was being made, the scientist cried out. He had been pulled back by a Silent. The Doctor grabbed hold of him, but another Silent pushed him hard into the corridor and he landed on the stone. The door slammed shut behind him.

The Doctor looked up and knew it was impossible to prevent. This was a fixed point in time. They had kept him alive just so they could kill him later, and when it was his time, he would bring Amy and Rory so they could see their daughter again. He found himself almost wishing for death, after he had failed to save Melody's chance at a wonderful childhood. He realized that her current regeneration would turn her into River- the River that would grow up and he would grow to love. Even if he wasn't destined to survive, she would still have parents to love her. It wouldn't be too late.

The Doctor stood, straightened his bowtie, and ran. Though he ran, he would remember.


	11. Lake Silencio

**Thanks to my readers for your continued support! And now…chapter 11…**

The TARDIS materialized in an all-too familiar spot which the Doctor had vowed to never return. It had been a couple hundred years since he had visited the library, and he was glad to see it bustling with people of all ages. That meant that she was here. She was the one who rescued all of them from the shadows. He breathed a sigh of relief knowing that whatever happens in his future would not change any of this.

He slowly made his way to the central data room and sonicked the door open. He was soon face-to-face with River in information node form. She beamed. "I was beginning to think you would never visit, my love."

"I thought it would hurt too much," the Doctor responded. "Glad to see that you still have feelings."

"What? Just because I'm running the largest computer in the Universe, it doesn't mean I'm not still me," River said with a chuckle.

The Doctor cut right to the chase. "Strangely enough, though, I am here for information. But information only River can tell me, not the largest computer in the Universe."

"Anything, my love," River cooed.

"I need to know when you kill me," he said.

For a moment, there was silence in the library. "I always wondered how you knew exactly when and where to be," River began. "I thought it was going to be more of a chase, but you just showed up, ready to die." She sighed. "April 22, 2011. 5:02 PM. Earth. Lake Silencio, Utah."

"Silencio," answered the Doctor with a forced laugh. "How ironic."

"I take it today is the day, then," she said.

"Yes, River, today is the day. I've screwed up so many times. I disappointed your parents and robbed them of a normal, human life. I took that away from you. And now, here you are, stuck inside a computer forever."

"It's not so bad, really," said River. "There are worse ways to die. It was the moments alive with you that mattered most. You should visit more often."

"What are you talking about?" the Doctor snapped. "Moments with me, visiting more often- River, I'm going to die today. You're going to kill me!"

"If you let yourself die, you will live again."

"What the hell does that mean?" the Doctor asked.

"Spoilers," River replied with a wink.

The Doctor turned for the door and made his way back to the TARDIS, landing on Amy and Rory's front lawn where he'd last left them in 2014. They rushed outside. "Did you get her?" Amy asked frantically. "Do you have Melody?"

"No," said the Doctor.

"What do you mean 'no'?" snapped Rory. "It's been 10 minutes for us, but for all we know, it could've been 10 years for you. You've had all the time in this world and beyond to look and you return to us to tell us you've given up?"

"I said 'no' in the context of answering Amy's question as to whether or not I have her on board right now," the Doctor elaborated. "I do, however, know where she is."

"Then let's go get her!" Amy exclaimed, bursting into the TARDIS. Rory followed, a bit skeptically.

"Now, before we go, she's going to be a little different," said the Doctor. "A little older."

"I don't care," said Amy, "let's go. Now."

The Doctor set their course and they landed outside a café near Silencio. "They hid her on Earth again?" Rory said, blocking his eyes from the blinding sun when he stepped outside.

Amy picked up a newspaper from the stand. "April 22, 2011," she read aloud. "Doctor, what do you mean she's going to be older? This would make her younger, or not even born yet."

"It's hard to explain," said the Doctor honestly, "but very soon you're going to witness something in which you're going to want to interfere. If you want to speak to your daughter again, don't."

Amy and Rory followed him down to the lake across the Plain of Sighs and there she was- adult Melody, waiting for him in her astronaut suit. "Doctor, who is that?" inquired Amy.

"Your daughter," the Doctor answered.

"Why is she in a space suit?" asked Rory. "And why is she tall? How much older is she exactly?"

"Look," said the Doctor, turning to face them. "I couldn't save her younger self because I failed three times. Three times and the event is time locked. Where do you think the expression 'third time's the charm' really comes from? The first was when I was outsmarted and they replaced her with the Flesh. The second was the time I tried to rescue her in New York before I went back and enlisted your help. The third was something that happened in Florida back in 1969, which is why, Rory, your daughter is wearing a spacesuit. This is what the Silence intended all along and there was nothing I could do."

"You're telling me that you just left her with the Silence for 42 years?" Amy yelled. "You let them hook her up to more wires and turn her into…that? Is this your idea of reuniting us, Doctor? When our daughter is older than we are and very different from 39 years of alien torture?"

"I told you, I couldn't prevent it," responded the Doctor. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Now you and Rory need to stand back. I'll be gone after this is done and she'll be entirely in your hands."

The Doctor turned to face River, who was staring up at him from the shoreline. He bravely made his way down the sand. Her helmet opened up.

"Before you shoot, I have something to say," said the Doctor.

"Nothing you could possibly say would shut me down," she replied with malice. "You did this to me. You left me there, Doctor. Even if this suit wasn't on autopilot, I'd want to do this. You're a sick man and no child should have to go through what I've experienced. I've waited decades for my life back. I plan to take yours to get it." She raised her arm.

"Oh, River," he said. "If only you knew how hard I tried. I'm so sorry. After this is over, stay with your parents. Go to college. I'm doing this for them. I owe them this much. I owe you this much. I…love you."

She looked taken aback, as if she was having some sort of internal struggle about whether or not to shoot, but he knew that she wouldn't be able to resist the power of the suit even if he was able to get through to her. Her words rang in his ears: "If you let yourself die, you will live again." He stepped forward, closed his eyes, and with the three blasts, accepted death.


	12. Melody's Choice

**To switch things up a bit (and because of the Doctor's current state…), this chapter is following River instead of the Doctor. I'm referring to her as "Melody" because she has not yet adopted the name "River" for this incarnation.**

Melody felt the suit unlock and she was finally able to step out. At last, she was free. She breathed in the spring air, bathed in the sunlight, and took off her socks so she could feel the sand between her toes. Amy and Rory ran towards her, but instead bent over the Doctor. Amy was weeping while Rory checked for a pulse.

"He's dead," Rory confirmed. He looked up at his daughter. "You killed him."

"He left me there!" Melody yelled. "For four decades I was stuck underground surrounded by men with holes for eyes. The things they did to me were his fault. He looked at me and heard me say his name. Then he ran and never came back. They told me that if I killed him, I would be free. The deed is gladly done."

Amy stood up and looked her in the eyes. "You are no daughter of mine. I raised my little Melody to see the Doctor as the good man that he was. You were my little girl once, but not anymore! My daughter would never be a murderer. She would be siding with the man who has saved thousands of races, not annihilated them as the Silence have told you. He tried to save you, but there was nothing more that he could have done and I know that to be the truth. He saved you once in New York, but you wouldn't remember that. He took down the woman who ran your entire operation. He was a good man."

Melody stepped back, shocked. She had expected her parents to embrace her. She remembered them as loving people, but they didn't know her at all. She began to walk away from the shore, leaving the grief behind her.

Melody realized as she walked down the nearest street that she was alone in this unfamiliar world. There was, however, one familiar thing that caught her eye: a Police box on the side of the road outside a café. She slowly moved toward it and grabbed onto the handle. She heard the lock click open, as if someone had opened it for her from the other side, but there was no one there.

Stepping inside, Melody gasped, face-to-face with the console of the TARDIS. She touched one of the all-too-familiar levers and had a flashback to a day she had forgotten about so many years ago when she flew the TARDIS…with the Doctor. He had been so kind, so gentle. He had laughed with her and played with her and done all the things that the Silence never did. He was everything they never were. She sunk to the floor as reality hit her that she had made a grave mistake killing the Doctor. Everything that happened to her was not his fault, and she needed to put things right.

Without thinking, Melody ran around the console, pressing buttons, pushing and pulling levers, knowing it would take her where she needed to be. Stepping outside, she saw that she was inside a dark closet. "I heard it- the whirring sound! It's him! He's here!" shouted a woman's voice outside the closet. She heard footsteps and suddenly the closet door was ajar. Melody found herself looking into the eyes of a woman with dark hair and an eyepatch, flanked by two Silents and an old man. The old man was holding a gun with no obvious intent to use it. Melody stepped out of the closet and into an equally dark building with walls of concrete and boarded-up windows. She could hear the cries of a baby from another room.

"Who are you?" asked the eyepatch woman, stunned by the sight of someone other than the Doctor stepping out of the TARDIS.

"It's you," Melody said in horrified awe. "The scientist talked about you sometimes. He always said you'd come, but you never did."

"What scientist? What are you talking about?" the woman snapped.

"I knew I'd find you here. Mum said this is where he found you," Melody continued. She stopped for a moment as she realized the crying baby was her younger self.

"Where who found me?" the eyepatch woman yelled. "I'm not afraid to tell my companions to attack."

"I don't even feel their lightning anymore," Melody explained. "Those fingertips don't frighten me."

The eyepatch woman was taken aback. "Who are you?" she asked again with a tinge of fear.

There was a knock at the main door and the old man slid the gun into his back pocket as he proceeded down the stairs to open it. Melody stepped closer to the woman and glared at her eyepatch. "I'm Melody Pond, and I'm the least of your worries right now."

The eyepatch woman and both Silents turned and looked down to witness the Doctor step through the doorway.


	13. Rewriting Time

**Only one more chapter and an epilogue after this! Hopefully you guys will like the ending. I won't be writing any more long stories for awhile, but if anyone is interested in doing a spin-off of this, I would totally be open to the idea and feel free to message me once all the chapters are up!**

Melody bolted down the stairs, staring into the eyes of the man she just killed in the future. "River?" the Doctor asked, shocked. "How can you be here? What are you doing here? This could create a massive paradox!"

"Don't worry, I haven't gone near myself," she responded, "and what is with this 'River' thing?"

The Doctor realized that this must be early River, since she didn't even know the name she would adopt in the future yet. He started to speak, but she interrupted him.

"I'm begging you, Doctor," she began, "let events happen how they should. Don't rescue me tonight."

The Doctor looked up at the eyepatch woman, who was staring down at them and listening, a bit confused. "Did she put you up to this?"

"No," Melody responded, "but I have seen the future that happens if you rescue me. They'll only find me again and I will succeed in the task the Silence raised me to perform. My parents will be crushed. Please, Doctor, my parents are so loving and caring. This is not who I want to grow up to be. I don't want to hurt them."

The Doctor paused for a moment to take in the information he had just received. The eyepatch woman started to come downstairs. "What you just told me is dangerous," he concluded. "It isn't right for me to know the future and attempt to change the past. Chaos could ensue."

"But time can be rewritten, Doctor!" Melody exclaimed. "And I didn't give you any major spoilers."

The Doctor smiled at the word "spoilers". The eyepatch woman approached them and was about to speak when Amy and Rory entered. They appeared to be taken aback.

"Hello…" Rory said, confused.

"This is not at all what he told us we'd be encountering," whispered Amy.

"What who told you?" the Doctor asked.

"Uh…you, from the future," Rory answered. "You sent us to help, and gave us specific instructions that obviously are invalid now."

"See, Doctor?" Melody interjected. "The past is already changing."

"Enough!" the eyepatch woman yelled. "I don't know what's going on here, but I suggest that you all leave."

"Alright," said the Doctor. "We'll just be going. Amy, Rory- with me!" He started to head out the door. River grinned in hope that he was taking her advice to not interfere.

"So we're just…leaving?" Rory asked, puzzled. "We're not saving Melody?"

"Go," Melody instructed. "Listen to the Doctor. Everything will be fine."

Amy and Rory skeptically followed the Doctor outside and closed the door behind him. "Listen carefully," the Doctor began, "I need you to go fetch other me, quickly. Tell him that River is here and to ask about the task that she performed for the Silence. I'll hide in those bushes so as not to get too close to my other self and create a paradox."

"What…why?" Amy stuttered.

"Just do it!" the Doctor yelled. "Now- and fast!"

Amy and Rory returned several moments later, running, with the future Doctor. The three knocked on the door once again, and the forgetful old man allowed them to enter. The Doctor shoved him out of the way. "River?" he called.

Melody, who was upstairs in the closet figuring out what to do with her life, heard his yell. She burst through the door once again and heard them running upstairs. She met them at the top. The eyepatch woman came from the opposite end of the corridor, where the baby's cries could still be heard. "I told you all to leave," she hissed. "Now, I hate to do this…" Two Silents appeared beside her and stretched their arms toward Amy and Rory.

"Stop!" shouted the Doctor. The eyepatch woman looked at him. "What is the task? What are you training Melody to do?"

"Wait, I thought you were supposed to ask River…" Rory started.

"Hush, Rory," snapped the Doctor.

The eyepatch woman cackled. "Why, to kill you, of course. The great Doctor, seemingly undefeatable."

"River, do it now," the Doctor commanded. He called for the old man.

"What?" Melody exclaimed. "No! Why are you calling me River again? You never answered me earlier."

"That's because you haven't asked me that yet," the Doctor replied. Melody immediately caught on. She smirked as the Doctor snatched the old man's gun and handed it to her. She aimed, knowing that if she killed this Doctor, the original version would still exist. She stepped toward him, inches from his body.

"Last time I did this, you told me you loved me," Melody whispered.

"Oh, really?" the Doctor responded. "How silly of me- it's too early in your time stream for me to say that."

Melody grinned. "Goodbye, sweetie," she said teasingly and shot three times once again.

Amy and Rory leaned over his body as Melody turned to face the eyepatch woman. "Who are you, again?" the woman asked, taking in the scene before her.

"I told you," she replied, "I'm Melody Pond, and you made me what I am- a murderer." She stared directly at the eyepatch and released the bullet.


	14. River Song

**Well, here it is! Thanks to all my followers and reviewers for making this story such a success. Watch out for an epilogue tomorrow or next week!**

Melody dropped the gun and looked down at her horrified parents, who were still kneeling beside the Doctor. They heard the cries of baby Melody from down the hall once again. "How can you be here right now?" Rory started. "Because you're also there!"

"Go, rescue her," Melody replied, "and if you take good care of her, she won't look like me until long after you two are gone."

"Right," Rory said. "But…you killed the Doctor!"

"Twice, actually," Melody replied, "but this time on his instruction, because the original version of him that told you to go get this version of him is waiting for us outside as we speak."

Amy grabbed the gun, stood, and proceeded down the hallway to rescue the infant form of her child. Rory rose, as well, and continued to address adult Melody. "How did he know that would work?"

"Kill the past Doctors and the future Doctor would have never existed," Melody explained. "Kill a later version of the Doctor, and the past one will still be there, waiting to rewrite the future so that he can evade death."

Rory nodded and two shots were heard from a room down the hall. He ran toward them as Melody made her way down the steps and out the door, where her Doctor was waiting for her with his bowtie and brown suit.

"Hello sweetie," she said with a grin.

"Now, I wonder what I could have said to make you call me that so early…" the Doctor replied.

"Something that I hope you'll say again soon, and in a better circumstance," Melody answered, and pulled him toward her. They both felt a sense of relief as their lips touched. "Now, what should we do about those bodies?"

"Burn them," the Doctor replied immediately. "You go get some firewood because Amy and Rory will be coming out with little you soon and getting too close could create a paradox."

"I know, I know," Melody moaned with another grin and set off into the trees nearby.

The Doctor waited by the doorway and witnessed Amy and Rory walking down the stairs. Baby Melody was resting her head on Amy's chest, her cries finally silenced. They smiled when they saw the Doctor.

"It was brilliant, Doctor!" Rory exclaimed. "Amy shot two Silents and by some unknown force removed these wires they had her hooked up to by simply touching them. I don't even want to think about what they might have been doing to her."

"Well, it's all settled now!" the Doctor replied cheerfully.

"Wait a minute, Doctor," Amy noticed. "Something's not right. At some point you were supposed to leave and go get us in London, and the future version of you that died in there told us to tell you that you have to do that or else we wouldn't be here right now…"

"That doesn't matter anymore either," explained the Doctor. "When an event occurs three times in three different ways, whatever the outcome is the third time is time-locked. You can't change it without creating chaos and it will always have happened. The first time was me coming here alone, and the second time was you two coming with me, which makes this the third time tonight has happened differently because River showed up and from her brief description of things, I concluded that both of those scenarios have already happened. We need do nothing more than move on with our lives."

"Right…where's uh…our other daughter?" Rory asked.

"Over here!" she yelled, waving from behind a tree. "I can't get too close. How do you know who I am? I was hoping for a big dramatic reveal when I said my name upstairs!"

"Demon's Run…remember?" Amy responded, puzzled.

The Doctor leaned in. "This is early River," he whispered, "and because we've altered her life so much, this might not even be the version of her that ends up going to Demon's Run." He looked over at River. "I'll explain later!"

"Ok!" she shouted back. "I have the firewood!"

"Well, Ponds," said the Doctor, "I suppose this is goodbye."

"Will you come to visit?" Amy asked.

"I think not," he replied. "According to this River, future me went to visit future you and somehow that led to your daughter being recaptured by the Silence."

"How are we supposed to get back?" Rory asked, "neither of us can fly the TARDIS that we came in."

"Oh alright," the Doctor said, "I suppose I'll come too and show you how to get her started. River- start on that burning!"

As the Doctor followed the Ponds back to where the dead future version of him had parked the TARDIS, River went inside and smoke soon filled the area.

The Doctor was about to step inside the TARDIS after Amy and Rory when suddenly, Melody spoke. "Home," she said.

"Her first word!" Amy exclaimed, delightedly, "And at an astonishingly young age…" The TARDIS began to rock back and forth.

"Home," Melody said again.

The Doctor applauded. "Magnificent! The TARDIS is teaching her! It's giving her the knowledge to bring you home. A child of the TARDIS…make sure you keep her away from this once you get back."

The light on top of the TARDIS began to flash and the box shook more. The light within the console was moving up and down. "Goodbye, Doctor," said Amy.

"Goodbye, Amelia Pond." The Doctor stepped back, Rory closed the door, and the TARDIS dematerialized.

He began to cough as he approached the orphanage. River strolled toward him, followed by the confused old man. The Doctor was shocked to see that the whole building was ablaze.

"I told you to burn the bodies- not the building!" he shouted. "Why do you always have to be so dramatic?"

"Can't be too careful," she replied, "there could have been more Silents in there, and there was an extra TARDIS in there, as well. Where is yours?"

"Halfway across New York City," the Doctor groaned. "Someone will notice this blaze, eventually, though. We might as well just wait here."

"Excuse me," the old man butted in, "but I think my house is on fire!"

"Hush," the Doctor said. He backed off.

About five minutes later, masses of NYPD cars and firemen arrived. The building, fortunately, was beyond the point of saving, and was set to be demolished in the morning. The Doctor told an officer that he and River were pet-sitting for a neighbor down the road and were attracted by the smoke. "Could you give us a lift back to our own place?" he asked.

The officer agreed and they climbed in the car. The Doctor spotted a pair of handcuffs and winked at River.

"What?" she asked.

He realized that this version of her would not understand that, either. "Nothing," he replied, and instructed the cop to drop them off about a block from where he had left his TARDIS.

When they were finally alone inside, the Doctor sighed. "So, where to now?"

"First you have to explain why you insist on calling me River," she protested.

"River Song is Melody Pond in the language of the people on the planet where you were born," the Doctor said. "In another life, you adopted that name and we spent time together before your parents and I knew you were their daughter."

"River Song," she said aloud. "Well, that does have a sort of ring to it."

"Now, it's your turn to answer me," the Doctor insisted. "We can go anywhere you'd like."

"Lake Silencio, Utah, April 22nd, 2011. Let's say, 5:10pm."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows at her. "Unfinished business," she explained.

Opening the door on the sands of the lake, the Doctor was face-to-face with Amy and Rory, whose expressions went from furious to shocked.

"Wait, you just died…" Rory stuttered.

The Doctor turned around to face River. "Care to explain?"

"This is where I came from," River responded. "I killed the third version of you, as well. That version is the one that told me something that made me change my mind about you." She winked and the Doctor smiled.

Whirling around again, he stepped out of the TARDIS, followed by River. "Well, your daughter here fixed that," he said, "and after we burn my other body, we have something to show you."

Amy and Rory skeptically followed them back into the Police box after nonchalantly lighting a fire on the beach. The whirring noise began once more and the TARDIS materialized down the street from Amy and Rory's London home, a few years later. They pushed the door open and peeked through the bushes. Amy and Rory gasped at the sight of themselves, standing outside with toddler Melody. "I remember this day!" Amy whispered. "This is when she resurrected the cat."

"While you two have been in April 2011, the original versions of yourselves came back here at the end of summer 2011 and have been raising your daughter for the past three years, just as you always wanted," the Doctor explained. "Your adult daughter here went back in time, saved me and herself, just so you two could get a chance to be proper parents."

"What are we to do though, Doctor?" Rory asked. "There's no place for us now."

The Doctor beckoned them back inside the TARDIS. "Well, you could always stay here and come for some more adventures…"

Amy stared at the Doctor, then at her daughter, and back at Rory. She grinned. "I think that sounds like a great life, don't you, Rory?" Rory sighed.

"Excellent!" the Doctor exclaimed. He ran to his console and began pushing buttons and pulling levers, their destination a mystery. Suddenly, the phone began to ring.

"Wait, Doctor!" Amy yelled. "That's us! We're calling about Melody resurrecting a cat and we want you to come visit us but don't do that…especially since the other versions of us aren't mad at you!"

The Doctor answered the rings. "Yes? Oh hello Ponds! No, I'm afraid I can't drop by, but hey- if this has anything to do with your daughter throwing around regeneration energy…how did I know? Lucky guess…but anyway, there is nowhere I can take her to teach her to control it, so you'll have to do the human parenting thing and tell a scary story about monsters coming to eat her if she does it again…you too, Ponds! Have a superb day!" He hung up the receiver and the TARDIS began to swirl through the time vortex.

"If it's too weird, you know," River began, "you can call me River. I know you don't remember me by that name because of how everything worked out in your version of the timeline, and I don't remember it either, but it might be less uncomfortable since I'm, you know, older than you."

Amy stepped toward her. "Nonsense. You are our daughter, Melody Pond, and always will be."


	15. The End is only the Beginning

**Thanks again to all of you for being such wonderful readers! From here, the rest is up to your imagination. **

London, 2030…

The Doctor and River stood off to the side as far back as possible, but still had a perfect view when the name "Melody Williams" was called, near the end of the list of graduates in the senior class. They had dropped their Amy and Rory off on a tropical planet for some "quality alone time", but they could see Earth Amy and Rory sitting up front, snapping pictures of their beautiful daughter with their human camera phones as she crossed the stage and received her diploma.

"You know, I look really good in that nice, young body," River stated over the clapping of the crowd. "Maybe I'll have red hair again with my next regeneration."

"Which will not be for a long time," the Doctor interrupted, "because I am not letting my wife die again anytime soon."

"You know, when they called, I didn't think you'd want to go," River continued.

"You know I can't refuse Amy and Rory, even if it isn't our Amy and Rory," said the Doctor. "Look how nice things turned out though- you graduated with honors!"

River chuckled. "It's funny if you think about it. Here I am as your wife, there I am as a teenager in a completely different body and lifestyle, and I have two sets of parents."

"I knew from the moment I said 'I do' on top of that silly pyramid you insisted on having the ceremony at that I was getting myself into a complicated situation," insisted the Doctor, "and if I didn't constantly get myself into complicated situations, I wouldn't be me."

The graduating class rose, moved their tassels, and the crowd applauded. "I know you want to go to the party," said River.

The Doctor looked as if he was deliberating. "Yeah…maybe a little."

"Go, sweetie," River instructed. "I'll wait back at the TARDIS."

"Don't leave without me," the Doctor commanded. "It's not funny when you do that and terrible things could happen!"

River laughed. "I won't, I promise- go!"

The Doctor scowled as he began to walk in the opposite direction. Amy and Rory's house was just a few blocks from here.

Cars of their human friends lined both sides of the street outside their blue home. Laughter could be heard from inside. The Doctor took a deep breath, approached, and knocked on the door. He was soon in the arms of Amelia Pond, whom he saw every day, but hadn't seen him in almost two decades. Rory came to see what all the fuss was about, and extended his arms to the Doctor, as well.

"Come on, then," Amy said, tugging on his arm, "let's go say hello to the graduate, shall we?"

The Doctor soon found himself in their living room surrounded by teenagers shouting, adults drinking wine, your average human couch…and a blue Police box, nonchalantly placed in a corner up against the wall. He grinned. "You kept it, I see."

"Well, what else are we supposed to do with a magic flying space box that's bigger on the inside?" Amy retorted sarcastically. "Leave it out on the street where anyone can just stumble upon it?" She called to Melody to meet them in the kitchen.

The Doctor was standing by the counter drinking a glass of milk when she entered. This version of Melody was just as beautiful as his own. Her eyes grew wide when she saw him. "Mum, is that him? Is that really him? The space man from the pictures you drew?"

The Doctor set down his glass. "Yes, hello, hi- I'm the Doctor!"

"Can you really fly that Police box in our sitting area?" Melody asked. "Mum and Dad told me that you can when I was little, but I never believed them."

"Yes, I can, and so can you!" the Doctor responded. Rory quickly hushed him.

"What do you mean?" said Melody quizzically.

"We haven't told her yet," Rory whispered to the Doctor. "We plan on waiting another few decades until she's lived a normal human life and we're retired and need somewhere to go with our free time."

"Well, that's very selfish of you, but I'll respect your silly decisions," the Doctor whispered back. He turned to address Melody again. "Nothing- and I was just dropping in to say hello. I actually have somewhere to be, but it was very nice, uh…meeting you, Melody." He laughed internally as he thought about what this version of Amy and Rory would say if he told them that he was married to their daughter. He remembered the horror on other Amy's face when she realized that she was his mother-in-law.

The Doctor hugged all the Ponds before leaving, promising to drop by whenever the next big milestone occurred. Perhaps Melody would marry a human.

He returned to find his TARDIS in the same spot with River leaning against the railing, looking as lovely as ever. "What are you thinking about?"

"Oh, nothing," she cooed, "just about how quickly time moves on Earth and how there are only three people left in the Universe that get to experience it for an eternity."

"Yes, well," the Doctor began, walking toward the console, "it does get a bit old after awhile…and did you say three? Are you counting your other self as a separate person?"

"No," River answered sweetly, stepping toward him.

"Then who is this third person?" the Doctor asked.

River gently took hold of his hand and placed it on her stomach, where he could feel the beating of two hearts. "Surprise, sweetie!"


End file.
